Written by Jim Stokes
In a world where discounting is the dominant tactic in the battle for traffic, don’t forget your high margin products to generate much needed profit to help balance out profit lost by dealing.
We all know that the masses are attracted to deals like moths to light. It’s true, a percentage of consumers go where the deals are but don’t forget that the majority of your customer base is looking for flavor and they’re willing to pay a reasonable price to get it. I’m not just talking about add-on sales, take a look at your menu and try featuring an indulgent full flavor product that hasn’t been in the spotlight for a while.
Merchandise it by putting it front and center where everyone can see it.
Make sure that the image of the product is the best it can be. That’s critical to its’ success. Remember, customers often eat with their eyes “Ooh, that looks good, I want that”. All too often we find featured items that sound appealing, but the image shown to promote it is washed out or discolored which defeats the purpose of appetite appeal. In fact, it has the opposite effect. Poor food imagery is a turn off not a come on. If you don’t have an attractive representation of the product, never show a bad one, instead, write an attractive description that says, “you know you want this”.
So, take an existing high margin product or create an interesting flavor twist with it by adding a new or different sauce, or another flavor enhancement like bacon or fresh avocado. Many franchisees have had great success using this tactic.
When everyone is focused on discounts and deals, think counter intuitively and put a little more beef (profit) into the equation.